Overland1

I have MetroGuide 4 which I upgraded with downloads from Garmin, including the latest one (MapSouce50_ENG). The version displayed shows it to be Version 5, but the display looks the same as Version 4. The data does not seem to be any different. Is the latest version of Mapsource on CD actually a lot different and provide more information than version 4? The bottom line is, should I spend the money for the new CD and will it be a worthwhile upgrade? There is a $30.00 rebate from Garmin available on version 5. Thanks in advance. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

You will ove it! I have had one for several months and take it with me whenver I travel (Jeep or GoldWing). On the way home from Baltimore last weekend, my wife even started playing with the Vista; although she is also a ham radio operator, she is definitely not a real gadget geek, although that may be changed now with the Vista . I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

I have an ICOM GP-22 GPSr for sale and will ship it to any location in the continental US for $45.00. It works perfectly and includes the rechargeable battery, the AA (5) battery holder, charger, case, manuals, and factory box. The unit and accessories are in mint condition. If not for already owning two other GPSr's, I would keep it, but I have to clear some of my excess electronic gear. E-mail me @ falletta@twcny.rr.com I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

Welcome to the world of GPS'ing and Geocaching! The plain (base model eTrex is a good unit, although there are other eTrex models that cost more and do more. If you want mapping capabilities, the Legend or Vista may be a better choice. Check the specs on the Garmin web site before buying. I chose the Vista to do mapping, and (with the 24 MB of RAM) it serves me quite well. None of the eTrex models will run more than $400.00. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

A few months ago, someting similar happened to me wile driving to Rochester, NY. The Vista had me as being near Worcester, MA. My speeds read as high as several hundred miles per hour. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

I have a Vista which I use in the Jeep, on the motorcycle, and on foot. Also using a DeLorme TripMate with the ThinkPad for long trips, and an ICOM GP-22. The GP-22 will probably be up for sale soon as I rarely use it. The Vista has some advantages over the TripMate (especially on two wheels), but the mapping on the Delorme stuff is still the best for travel. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

"Due to rider restraint system requirements, guests of exceptional size may not be accommodated on some of our rides........." What ever happened to the good old term, "Gravitationally Challenged"??????? I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

I just experienced my first such lockup on my Vista this morning. I had just cleared some data (altitude, speed, tracks, etc) and it locked up. The only way out was to pull a battery and then replace it. The batteries were quite weak at the time, and I replaced them with freshly charged batteries. I did the 3.2 update a few weeks ago, so there may be a problem with that. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

quote:Originally posted by masaki:There's always a cop hiding at a turn 2 houses down to my house to catch Playground Zone speeders. Maybe I can convince him to clock me and do some comparison...we'll see Check with the cop sometime when things do not appear to be very busy for him; many officers are cool with stuff like that, especially if you show him the GPS and what you are up to. Many cops are also into electronic stuff. By the way, I just got back from a 250-mile trip and the Vista worked perfectly; no problems like yesterday. Also got a chance to show it off a bit to a couple of people . I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

Thanks for the above responses; at least I am not alone on this one . I will be on the road again today (Wellsville, NY) and tomorrow (back to Syracuse), so I will check it again and see if any more strange things happen. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

The indicated speed on most vehicles is usually slightly more than actual speed. If you clock a measured mile with a stopwatch (or a radar unit if you have one ), you will find this to be true most of the time. Some vehicles offer the option of one tire size larger, which will reduce the indicated speed very slightly. For example, switching from a 225R-75 to a 235R-75 will drop the indicated reading by approximately 1-2 percent. Your results may vary - check with your vehcile manufacturer's recommendations. I ran across something today on a trip to Rochester, NY. I left the Vista on for the entire trip, but rarely checked it suring the trip. Once I arrived at Rochester, I noticed that it had lost satellite contact, and the map "page" showed me as being near Worcester, MA. It showed my moving and overall average speeds in excess of 3000 MPH (WHEEEEE!). On a later trip to Syracuse, NY, the mapping seems mostly OK, although there was some error in the tracking. The Trip odometer read about 100 miles extra; the moving time was OK.Max speed was 92 MPH, Moving Average was 89.8, and Overall Average was 80.5 MPH. Note that roads and conditions would never have allowed such averages to be attained, and the vehicle would not be able to do that very easily as well. Could some of the satellites have been messed up during the day? Other than that, I am not sure what else could have caused this. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

I recently bought the Vista with some accessories from GPSNow; The service and prices were as good or better than any other place on the web. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

I just got back from where a couple of the batteries that I previously described were located. They are actuall sealed lead acid batteries and were marketed by Laerdal as the "Heartstart Training Battery" about six years ago. Not sure if they even offer such a thing now. Upon opening the zippered case containing the battery, I found a part number from Alexander that is GB1270 (12 VDC, 7.0 AH). The battery has male spade terminals on top and should be easy enough to maintain and charge. Batteries.com lists something just like this for a reasonable price, and an adapter cable (with female spade lugs on one end and a female lighter plug receptacle on the other) could be easily assembled. The only other part would be to come up with a case which could fasten to the operator's belt or fin in a backpack or "fanny pack" pouch. With a 7.0 AH capacity, a GPS (and maybe something else) could be run all day . I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

quote:Originally posted by Cache Canucks:

quote:Originally posted by Stunod:My company uses these for our truck drivers. There is a small application that can be put in the Nextel phone that radios it's position to a central office where they map it on a web page. The position updates every few minutes, so we can have almost real time positioning of our delivery trucks. Pretty neat, but some feel it is like Big Brother.. A lot of Police, Fire, rescue, and EMS vehicles are using GPS in conjunction with their communications systems to display vehicle location on a screen at the dispatch center. It is a bit "big-brother"-ish, to say the least, but helps to dispatch units more effectively.... when the system is working. In my county, we have seen cases where the system does not update often enough, and the vehicle remains showing at a specific place for an hour after it has left that location. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

Just picked up four more NiMH batteries (Energizer 1850 mAh) for under eleven dollars at the nearby "AL-MART" (the "W" was not illuminated). These should keep my GPS and digital camera going for a while. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

There is a 12-volt gel cell pack offered by Laerdal, complete with female lighter plug output and soft case; it is used with some of their Automated Exteranl Defibrillator training systems. I believe it sells for less than $80.00, but am not certain of the part number. It can be charged from any 12VDC source If I can get a chance to look at one, I will pass along the information. If anybody here is into EMS training and has one of these battery packs, please chime in with the info. I Roger your vector, Victor...... Over.

quote:Originally posted by dotnet: quote:Originally posted by hinds2010:Get a Jeep Wrangler with a rag top. Works like a charm (excepting under heavy tree cover). The Jeep or the GPS? No problems with any of the Jeeps (Grand Cherokee) here, either. I prefer the plain, old-fashioned windshield (with hot air blowing on it for defrosting).... keeps it simple and less expensive. By the way, the Jeep Wrangler works like a charm under heavy tree cover.... unless the trees are too close together .

quote:Originally posted by Searching_ut:Recently, here in northern Utah, we had a bomb scare as a result of a small red plastic tackle box cache. On a couple cache pages, I've also seen postings of where police officers were curious as to what was going on when people were searching for caches. (I think it was night searches). No matter what the activity, it's probably wise to think hard about how others might view your actions given the current situation. The same things has been known to happen when ham radio operators conduct Hidden Transmitter Hunts (Bunny Hunts). A bunch of us occasionally attracted the attention of police officers while searching for the "Bunny", but they were cool about it, especially when they found that the operator of the transmitter was also a police officer (off-duty, of course!). Along with other common sense stuff when approached by LEO's, carrying a printout with you would certainly make the explanation a bit easier. By the way, this scenario may provide an opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of portable GPS to interested LEO's; many are not into the technical stuff (but then there are several who are tech geeks ), but may well show sincere interest just the same. The value of GPS, along with a means to communicate, could be valuable in a Search and Rescue operation. I can recall several such cases over the years where a few good people with this sort of equipment could have made a search much easier and efficient.

I agree that the Olympus and Nikon are excellent digital cameras; if I were to buy a high-quality camera, it would be one of those. As a less expensive alternative, you may want to check out the low and mid-priced Kodak cameras. I received one as a gift a while back and carry it with me when I travel (even locally). It is a DC3800 and is quite small - perfect for quick shots without a lot of fiddling around. The Kodak, which uses AA batteries, was bought at Wally's on a closeout sale. Every so often, they have deals on stuff like this; it may be a lower priced alternative if the budget is limited and you want a small camera.

Glad to see all the good comments on the Vista; I just ordered one and it should arrive on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Once I have some time to play with it and learn its capabilities, it should be one good investment. I had considered a StreetPilot III or a GPS V, but they seemed a bit bulky to carry around. The routing capabilities of those units did look good, though. One of the reasons that I considered them was to possibly (partially) replace the TripMate/ThinkPad setup, but the ThinkPad display still has me hooked. The bad news is that the IBM cannot be used on the motorcycle . I ordered the Garmin mapping CD and dtat/power cable so I can use the Vista for some simpler mapping tasks, so I am eager to see how it works for me. More details (and hopefully another good review) after the package arrives.......

I still have an ICOM GP-22 that was bought new about ten years ago and it still works well, although probably not as sensitive as the newer ones. It has never had any problems, and has been very handy on Rescue/EMS calls when the bird is called in to fly a patient out. I am also using a DeLorme TripMate with a ThinkPad, and the TripMate has also been flawless after many years of use. My newest GPS unit, a Garmin eTrex Vista, will arrive this week (the last I knew, it was en route via FedEx). Now that should be a great GPS receiver, and it is a lot more capable and portable than the ICOM, which I may keep around as a spare to use on calls.